Nuclear Throne

Update #8 - Add a little bass to that shotgun & a nuke to the arsenal.

We said we'd be slowing down a bit for the holidays in December, but somehow a lot of new stuff still managed to slip into this update. Now that Joonas Turner, our sound designer, is back on the project, we've suddenly got (updated) sound effects for most enemies right up to Big Dog and a couple of weapons! As always with SFX, the differences are subtle, but they give the game so much more soul and atmosphere. In the meanwhile, artist Paul Veer finished all the mutation icons, and Lil' Hunter got quite an update.

We also did some balancing for melee weapons, and changed Boiling Veins again, now allowing for the oldschool "run-into-things-while-firing-grenades" tactics while still being interesting. And we added a Nuke Launcher.

Features

All mutation icons!

More weapon sounds!

More enemy sounds!

Nuke Launcher. NUUUUUUKE LAUNCHER!

Lil' Hunter got updated a lot.

Throne Butt now tells you what it does for your current mutant.

Some very mysterious changes to the Blood Launcher.

Loading screen now has support for "rare tips".

Lil' Hunter now has an intro like the other bosses.

Balancing

Lower damage but higher rate of fire for the Katana.

Higher damage but lower rate of fire for the Sledgehammer.

Higher rate of fire for the Screwdriver.

Boiling Veins now makes you immune to explosions and fire when under 50% health.

Fixes

Sword icon changed a little bit.

Props with text on them will no longer flip.

Fixed spawning a bit for that secret enemy we added in the last update.

Portal spawn locations fixed a bit.

Misc

Weapon reload now has more contrast on the HUD.

New icicle graphics.

More loading screen tips.

Shells now disappear with a slightly random interval.

New ice tiles in Frozen City.

Things will probably slow down even more for the next update, as more of the team take a bit of a breather during December. Streams will continue according to schedule and we'll be around on the forums, but we'll be using the rest of this month to recover from all the hard work, and to prepare taking the game to whole new levels as soon as 2014 hits!

Great progress guys. This game keeps getting better and better. As I have been playing chicken since that update (I'd guess 30 + hours and since gone back to playing the rest) I do think that the melee drop rate went a little too far down. IMO.

Guess I can always guarantee a melee run with chicken but I do enjoy the other characters as well.

The screwdriver is reasonably usable now, so thanks for that. The sledgehammer tweak is actually pretty nice, too. The nuke launcher is probably one of my favorite new weapons, along with the flak cannon. The nuke launcher would be awesome if you're under half health with the new boiling veins.

I just want to say, you guys earn my respect going into Early Access, and truly devoting yourselves to your work. Take as long of a break as needed. Your weekly streams, and everything, must be exhausting.

On the other hand I'm totally disappointed you didn't use Robot for all the ammo related mutations :P

Totally noticed the difference on the katana, though. It's... challenging. But honestly it's not as bad as the lunging... _that_ reaaaaaaally gets old.Kill something, lunge forward, get hurt anyway just because. Something broken in how you process things, there. At least that's how it feels after the hundredth time I get hurt by a worm I just killed.